Covetousness

Lk.12:15 - ...Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth.
Matt.6:19 - But lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth...

In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus Himself lays out an overview of His Second Coming. In this prophetic teaching He divides the sheep(on His right) from the goats(on His left). But the interesting thing is that the criteria He uses to divide is who ministered to the hungry, poor, naked, sick, and the prisoners. I have always wondered why there was nothing in this teaching about faith, but as I have studied God's Word it has become increasingly clear that ministering and reaching out sacrificially to the poor and needy cannot be separated from the gospel mission of the followers of Jesus Christ.

Now be careful, we are about to go into Spiritual turbulence and the Pilot has turned on the "unlock your seatbelts" sign. You see, God wants His turbulence to shake us out of our comfortable ride. I personally am not the example of anything, God's Word is the mirror. In Luke chapter 3 there is an account of the emergence of John the Baptist as the forerunner to Jesus the Messiah. John calls people to repentance, but in this account he does not call people to repent of adultery, immorality, or other sins we would associate with repentance. No, the people come and ask him what should they do to repent. John the Baptist tells them to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, don't overcharge the poor, be kind, and be content with your salary

Paul's words to Timothy echo John's exhortation to repent. Paul tells Timothy to "be content with food and clothing"(I Tim.6:8) (As soon as I meet that guy I'm going to listen to him!). Let me throw out this question to all of us as if we were in a chat room, "What does I Tim.6:7 mean?". I Tim.6:7 - For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. Doesn't that perfectly parallel the Lord Jesus' Words not to "lay up treasures on earth"? Let's forget about the lost for a minute. How can it possibly be right with God for us to have enormous amounts of money in savings and retirement when there are brothers and sisters IN CHRIST that are in unbelievable need around the world? Not just in need of Bibles, but food, clothing, shelter, and necessities. Our family members in need. Imagine you had won the lottery(hope not) and you were headed up I-75 to Tallahassee to collect 1 Billion dollars! On the way you stopped at a gas station to fill up and you noticed a small fair with a merry-go-round in the lot next door. Although you only had five dollars on you, you wanted to ride that merry-go-round which was five dollars per ride. As you walked over to the lot you noticed your long lost brother, homeless and begging for food. Would you give him the five dollars or ride the merry-go-round?

I think we all would probably answer that we would give the five dollars to our hungry brother in that hypothetical scenario, but in reality we are riding many merry-go-rounds while our brothers are hungry. It is obviously never right for part of God's family to "prosper" for their own pleasure while others desperately need what we have. It goes against ALL the teachings of God's Word(even the ones we attempt to Spiritualize). I can hear all of us quickly buckling up our earthly seat belts. Click, click, click. Don't worry, the flight will be over in a moment and we'll be back at BIA (Babylonian International Airport).

We give out of our abundance to the victims of Katrina, and document(trumpet) what we give(whatever happened to not letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing?), but some of our brothers and sisters suffer far worse than Katrina. Approximately 1400 people died in Katrina, but 6000 Africans die EVERY DAY of AIDS. The key word is "Africans" not "Americans". If all the Africans moved to the United States it would be easier to help($wise). Maybe one hundred years ago we could say to the church,"Look out, we're headed in the wrong direction!" Today we are not headed in the wrong direction, we've arrived.

If the body of believers just gave the interest payments on their debt(by getting out of debt!), it would save thousands of BELIEVER'S lives. Hard to imagine isn't it? Let's illustrate. One hundred believers land in the Tampa Bay from Africa after miraculously crossing the Atlantic Ocean and sailing into the Gulf of Mexico and arriving here. All one hundred are hungry, some are sick, and they all need a place to stay. They are all from one small church in Zambia, South Africa and they have risked their lives to come to the believers in America to BEG for help. They inform us that there are thousands of their loved ones that are dying and need immediate help. As a matter of fact, many die daily! Hurry, please! Would you and I help? Would we allow the Holy Spirit to move us into emergency mode? Well these fictional believers cannot come here by boat, but a nobody like me can ask for them. Please help Not just write a nice, comfortable check. No, start praying dangerously - THE SITUATION IS DESPERATE!! The need is so great it is impossible to overstate. The time is short. The martyr Jim Elliot said,"He is no fool who gives what he can't keep to gain what he cannot lose". Just once in my life I would love to see someone who has a lot of this world's goods empty all his savings, investments, and retirement and humbly set the example for all to follow and see if the Holy Spirit would move in other believer's hearts.

Right after the Scripture in Luke 12:15 that I quoted at the beginning, Jesus shares a parable about a certain rich man. This man had a nice retirement account and it was growing. So he built larger barns(retirement accounts) to hold his savings The man even takes comfort that he can now enjoy the fruits of his labor. Now Jesus said he was a fool, and Jesus asks the question in verse 20 "whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?". Jesus sums it up in verse 21 "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God". Now we have taught, especially in the last generation, that you can lay up for yourselves treasures as long as you are rich toward God. That is wresting and distorting the words that came directly from our Lord. Read the entire chapter and the context is clear. Jesus is clearly teaching that he that lays up treasure is not rich toward God. The entire 12th chapter of Luke is teaching that the act of laying up treasure is a foolish act that exposes that we love money and are not rich toward God. OK, you are uncomfortable with that? I am also, but let God be true and every man a liar. Like Luther said, "Unless you can convince me by Scripture...". I challenge you, read the entire New Testament and make a journal of all the verses that deal with money or possessions. Before you do, are you willing to obey what God teaches? If not, you're just auditing a literature class. No credit.

What if God spoke in a dream to a famous Christian leader in America? This leader purchased secular TV time and told the body of Christ that the Lord had spoken to him in a dream. Now in order to remove all doubt that at least this wasn't a gimmick, let us say it was someone who never before had been given to subjective emotions in God's name. Let's just say it was John Macarthur. Now he got on TV and with passion and tears he said God had told him to tell any American believers that would listen to sell everything they owned and place it in a money market account for one year(at least we'll accrue interest, whew). Retirement accounts, savings, investments, houses, everything. Now this would mean families moving to rental dwellings, sometimes much smaller than they were accustomed. All their net worth was in that one bank account for one year. Now during this one year they were to pray, as a family, and seek the will of God concerning foreign missions. This one year would be a sacrificial year of fasting, family altar, brokenness, and allowing the Holy Spirit to personally direct each and every family about God's will collectively and individually. Any family that did not have a father would be assigned to link up with a Godly family(that should be happening now!). At the end of the year every family would come forward in their church and the father would share how God had directed them. Every family was to be either a goer or a sender.

How many of us would do that even if we were convinced it was God? The problem is that we have traveled so far down this cultural road that we would never believe that God would ever ask us to do that. We have heard hundreds of times "It's all right to have things as long as things don't have you"(a saying of man - not God). You want to test whether things have a man? Steal it from him, you'll see! Let the stock market crash, let the real estate values plummet, let Christian's salaries be cut in half, let the banks default, let all that happen and on Sunday morning the church altar will be filled with believers acting as if heaven disappeared! If we could be transported temporarily out of this culture, we would see that we can't take it with us. If just once we were loosed from these red, white, and blue grave clothes we could hear our Lord with Spiritual abandonment! One day Jesus will come, and all the money we have stashed away will burn, useless in the life to come. We even kid about letting the antichrist have it after we go. Sadly, he will. I do not know why we hold onto such amounts of money in the face of the clear teaching of Jesus Himself. I do not know why so many of us refuse to go to the need in the face of the calling of Jesus Himself. I am personally under the teaching/chastening of God as He peals back the layers that have accumulated over thirty years as a follower of Jesus. Sometimes I wonder how I could have been so blind. I know, I've lost my earthly and ecclesiastical moorings. Leave what isn't Spirit to you, but let God give you, maybe, a little nudge.

OK, the Pilot has turned on the "Buckle your seatbelts" sign. Walk down the aisle of the plane, carefully step down the steps, and place your feet firmly on good, old "mother earth". Wow, I didn't like that ride and the movie they were showing was so far out it was not believable. Thank Jesus we are home again...still buckled in. That's the problem!


REVELATION 9:20 - ...YET REPENTED NOT OF THE WORKS OF THEIR HANDS, THAT THEY SHOULD NOT WORSHIP DEVILS, AND IDOLS OF GOLD, AND SILVER, AND BRASS, AND STONE, AND OF WOOD: WHICH NEITHER CAN SEE, NOR HEAR, NOR WALK...